Guinea pig ice cream for sale in Ecuador

Guinea pig-flavoured ice cream is available in Ecuador.
Guinea pig-flavoured ice cream is available in Ecuador.

It's a real ice cream flavour: guinea pig.

Anyone who thinks of guinea pigs as pets - cute, squishy, squeaking bundles of fur - might find that idea hard to digest.

The rodents are a traditional hot dish in some Latin American countries including Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

In Ecuador, people typically cook guinea pigs with salt and serve them with potatoes and peanut sauce. But one vendor is taking things to another gastronomic level, serving guinea pigs as a cold dessert.

Some people like ice cream made from "cuy", as the animal is locally known.

"I was suspicious, but it was tasty," said Marlene Franco, a 78-year-old retiree who tried a scoop at a stall next to a highway linking the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to the city of Sangolqui.

The stall owner is Maria del Carmen Pilapana, whose offbeat offering inspires disbelief and laughter among first-time customers.

Pilapana's operation is small. It consists of two tables in an open area lined with dentists' clinics and other businesses. Even so, demand is growing. Every week, the entrepreneur prepares 150 servings of guinea pig ice cream.

She also makes 40 servings of ice cream flavoured with beetles, also traditionally eaten as a salty snack, and a smaller amount of mushroom ice cream.

"My family and my husband thought I was crazy. They didn't think anyone would like these ice creams, but now they're our main product," said Pilapana, who acknowledges that she had her own doubts about whether her investment would pay off.

Pilapana manages to concentrate guinea pig flavour after cooking and preparing a pate from the animal's flesh, adds milk or cream and refrigerates the concoction until it has the rough consistency of ice cream. The taste is similar to chicken.

Australian Associated Press